Gee's Bend in Mrs. Obama's Portrait

This blogpost is going from the middle to the beginning to the end. Lewis Carroll would agree. 

Gee's Bend lovers out there, steady your hearts, Mrs. Obama had Gee's Bend quilts painted on her official state portrait. It's real.

In college, Dr. Hahn always stressed building up momentum when writing before getting to the point, but I had to put that first. I feel like Gee's Bend quilts have built momentum on their own for decades. About ten years ago I went to a museum exhibition of their quilts with another dear professor and friend of mine. She is now like an aunt and fairy godmother who sweetly and sarcastically gives me perspective on life, "Well, Dear, this situation sounds very much to me like Mrs. Rochester the crazy wife closed in the attic in Jane Eyre. Oh you really must read it to see what I mean." I always wondered why women in literature were more relatable than male characters. You never see anyone relating to the Cat in the Hat (assuming he is male), Oliver Twist, or Hamlet. Though I could see plenty of men (and women) being very King Lear-ian (someone who loves empty flattery for their delicate ego, cannot recognize honesty, refuses to be wrong and has excessive pride. A fragile person victim of their foolish pride thinking they can control how people perceive them). Learian people...sigh.... get a good therapist... Anyway, the point being that my dear friend and I went to see this collection of Gee's Bend Quilts that were fascinating, magical and unlike any quilt I had seen before. 

Gee's Bend is important in American history and especially female and African American history because they captured the importance of the art, hard work and isolation of a group of people where the women rose and created, in that darkness and isolation, works of color and fantasy and movement that still bewilder today. Gee's Bend is in Boykin, Alabama, a remote area of the country separated from solid land by a river. It was there,  in the Pettyway Plantation that incredible women living and working in very hard circumstances on the plantation began quilting to keep their families warm. 

Most of their quilts were in the free "my way" style where there was lack of form, lack of geometry and they followed the patterns of wear and tear in the clothes they used as fabrics for their quilts. They used work clothes, baby clothes, blue jeans (my favorite), and unknowingly wove together a pattern of quilts that was unique to American history and culture. 

I remember standing that day in awe of these quilts with my face as close to them as the museum would permit me to stand and just breathing them in like a good Rothko Painting. Some of the patterns off balance, lacking symmetry but oozing life and fresh air and creativity and color and hardworking hands that made them. I wonder what we would all make if we were condemned to live in shacks with no water, electricity, insulation, and have a pile of old clothes? What would I do? Maybe lay on the pile of clothes and look at the stars at night but certainly not have the creative courage to stitch a story out of that time.

So I am excited and thrilled that Mrs. Obama chose to have a Gee's Bend quilt featured on her Official White House portrait at the National Portrait Gallery! One thing I would change is giving Michelle the denim quilt and giving her face and skin more dimension. The artist could have done a better job forming her features. Just a thought!

The walk back to the office was beautiful with a quick pop in a new French bakery that just opened to admire their pastries. Boy did they look tasty and boy was I glad I left my wallet back in the office! Looking at the pastries was like looking at the sun: dangerous.